Topic: Discovery (Read 3062 times)

I was bored this afternoon and began running through what Discovery would be if I were the one in charge of the project, given what's been confirmed by the executives. (Some of this stuff I wouldn't do, but since they've already said they are doing it, I had to work with it)

Mission: Tarsus IV.

It's been stated that the mission that the 1st Season of Discovery is going to revolve around was mentioned in TOS. But they did not go any further except to say that it is NOT Axanar. Given the timeframe for Discovery, I believe that the event is the starvation and execution of the colonists on Tarsus IV. Discovery is said to be about 20 years prior to TOS, and that puts Kevin Riley at around 5 or 6 years old during Discovery, which is old enough to be able to recognize Kodos.

Episode 1: The catastrophe.

The Discovery is on some routine mission, a planetary survey. During this time, we're starting to get introduced to the characters. We'd get maybe 20 or 30 minutes of information on the characters, the ship, the mission. After that it cuts to Tarsus IV, and whatever happens to knock out the food supply. Discovery gets an emergency return to Starbase order, and the crew gets filled in on their new mission while they are en route, we get their reactions, especially to the fact that they are 8 weeks away, and they are the closest ship. At the end of the episode, it cuts back to Tarsus IV, and a small Starfleet outpost there, where Cadet James Kirk, and about a dozen other officers are on site, doing what they can to clean up, and realizing, that they are in just as much trouble as the colonists. (For this role, I would love to see Chris Pine play it, but it might be too small of a role for him to consider, as bad of a Captain Kirk Pine made, he did make a fine Cadet Kirk)

Episode 2-5: Taking on Supplies and pushing the ship to her limits.

Because of what the executives want to do, this is unfortunately what I see this entire series being. Less on the science and exploration and more on the interpersonal relations of the crew, reacting to the crisis, and the stress that it's putting on the ship. (I personally do not think that this will work, but we can give them a shot at it) The crew will be pushing the ship to her theoretical limits, and beyond, knowing that each day they can cut off their transit to the planet could save hundreds of lives. But it's a strain on the crew, and the ship, and the crew is trying its best to hold the ship together. Meanwhile, the situation on Tarsus IV continues to degrade, the Starfleet outpost has given the colonists their food supplies, but its becoming clear to everyone, that if help doesn't come soon, people are going to start dying.

Episode 6: The Enterprise.

After 4 straight weeks of rather boring episodes of the crew holding the ship together. The Discovery takes a brief break to rest its strained Warp Coils, and take on supplies gathered by Captain Pike (Bruce Greenwood) and the Enterprise. Not only is this a break in the monotony, but its a chance to see the majestic lady herself on the screen again. Cameos by Bruce Greenwood and Zachary Quinto fill the episode while the Enterprise unloads its cargo onto the Discovery. Afterwards the Enterprise goes on her way, taking on a mission that only a Constitution Class Starship can handle. And the Discovery continues her mission to Tarsus IV. On Tarsus IV, Kodos unveils his plan for saving the colony. "What would a Vulcan do here? Kill some so that the others may live."

Episode 7: Rounding up.

On Tarsus IV, Kodos begins rounding up the half of the colonists that have been determined by his cabinet to having the least productive abilities and the lowest survivable traits. The elderly, the sick and weak are chosen. The strongest, and the children are allowed to live. The Starfleet outpost catches wind of the plan, they try to intervene, but are killed in a firefight, leaving Kirk and only a couple of survivors to try to hide some of the condemned. Meanwhile, upgrades from the Enterprise have gotten the Discovery pushing her limits even further. They've cut the time to get to Tarsus IV by over a week.

Episode 8: Kodos the Executioner

On Tarsus IV, Kodos announces to the Colony what he's about to do, giving the speech that is repeated in "The Conscious of the King", at which point his loyalists commit the slaughter. Kirk and the remaining Starfleet officers, watch in horror as the deed is mercifully done. No further communications from Tarsus IV are allowed out, unless it comes directly from the office of the Governor. The crew of the Discovery is upbeat about the progress they are making, knowing that the 10 days they've been able to shave off their travel time, could have saved a thousand lives, not realizing what has just transpired on the planet.

Episode 9: Coming to Terms.

As much as Kodos tried to rationalize his decision, it was the logical decision. He wasn't Vulcan enough to be immune from the consequences of it. He knows that the people died so that the others could live, but he's becoming increasingly distressed, and some of his loyalists have already committed suicide over what had to be done. Discovery, begins to grow puzzled over the lack of communications from the planet, especially from the lack of Starfleet communiques. They are still getting the official messages from the Governor's office, but the general chatter from the civilian lines are gone, and the Starfleet outpost is completely silent. They know though, that they are only a couple days away, and these new questions will be answered soon.

Episode 10-11: Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot?

Discovery drops out of Warp at the edge of the system and begins its approach to the surface. Fully expecting to be bombarded by pleas for help and thank yous for arriving, they arrive to an automated message: approach course approved, Welcome to Tarsus IV. Were they too late? On the surface, Kodos notices the approaching starship, and fully comes to terms with what he's done, and now how unnecessary it really was. Riots break out in the streets upon the arrival of the Discovery, Kirk takes charge of the few remaining Starfleet personnel and assists the colonists in overrunning the remaining loyalists. During the assault of the Capitol complex, Kodos slips out and assumes the identity of one of the colonists that was killed, the capitol building catches fire during the assault.

Episode 12-13: Picking up the pieces.

The arrival of the Discovery and the distribution of supplies has quelled the riots. As the Discovery personnel comb through the wreckage of the capitol building, they believe that they find the body of Kodos. They have arrested the few surviving loyalists, and begin piecing together what happened on the planet. Cadet Kirk is one of two survivors of the Starfleet contingent. He is given a special commendation for his actions on Tarsus IV and returns to the Academy. The special commendation will ultimately allow him to graduate from the Academy as a full Lieutenant, and fast-track him through his career. Meanwhile, the Discovery has to deal with the fallout, including relocating survivors who no longer wish to remain on Tarsus IV, including an orphaned Kevin Riley.

So that's it in a nutshell. While I know that some people might cringe at the thought of using JJ-actors to portray their prime universe counterparts. I do believe that the three of them, plus Karl Urban and Zoe Saldana were the good castings. My reservations on Chris Pine as James T. Kirk only really applies to him as Captain Kirk. I think he made an excellent Cadet Kirk. I also think that Quinto played a very good Spock, and only being on the screen for part of an episode, I'd rather not find yet another actor to play him. Bruce Greenwood as Captain Pike was honestly the ONLY reason I watched the 2009 movie in the first place.

Again, it's all speculation. It's what I would do if I were in charge of the story arc. I don't know how well the format they chose to go with will play out, if it can survive the first 5 episodes, I think this could be a good season, if it played out the way I wrote it above. I just question whether or not it can survive it. One of the things that I would really like them to explore in this series, if they do nothing else, is give the universe a sense of scale! Far too often the scripts call for Warp 2, or Warp 7. And far too often it seems like the numbers are just chosen at random. The travel time to Kronos in Enterprise. Janeway calling to go investigate a dozen dead Borg Cubes 10 Light Years away at "Warp 2"! Ok... if you want to take a year to get there... The Federation is vast, in the 24th Century its over 10,000 light years, well, lets see it start taking a bit of time to get from point A to point B!

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"Your mighty GDI forces have been emasculated, and you yourself are a killer of children. Now of course it's not true. But the world only believes what the media tells them to believe. And I tell the media what to believe, its really quite simple." - Kane (Joe Kucan) Command & Conquer Tiberium Dawn (1995)

You use 20 years before TOS for reference which undercuts Kirk being a cadet unless he is a Wesley Crusher. Kirk says he is 34 in deadly years episode so take off 21 years and he is 13. Not buying that he is a cadet. Going to have to use the de-aging software on Greenwood to be making a cameo and I'm not buying that Spock is on board the Enterprise 20 years prior to TOS. You're better off with Captain April in command of a recently launched constitution class Enterprise as far as the prime time line goes..

There is a bit of inconsistency with regards to Kirk's youth. Not even taking into account the Kelvin in the JJ universe. Born in Iowa, on Tarsus IV when he's 14, his brother goes to a completely different planet, where are his parents throughout this? Still on Earth? Doable, I suppose, but I don't get the feeling that the Federation, even in the 24th Century, is a place where you just move around from planet to planet as you please, not like the United States or the European Union where you can move to another state in just an hour or two. Moving to another planet is a considerable undertaking, at considerable expense.

The other item is, was 20 years a hard time frame? Or just an approximation? I think Riley is more important to how long ago this was, than Kirk. Riley has to be old enough to remember. Bruce Hyde was 25 when they filmed, Its reasonable to infer that Riley is a similar age. That would put Riley at 5 years old. Yes its a traumatic event and a person would remember a bit more, but I wonder if a 5 year old's memory would be THAT good. What if its just a few years later, 17 years ago, instead of exactly 20? Riley is 8 now, and Kirk is 17, it adds up a little bit better. And its easier to explain the inconsistency in Kirk's youth.

It does conflict just a bit with Captain Pike, for some reason I was thinking "The Cage" was 15 years prior to "Where No Man Has Gone Before" The Enterprise would be under Captain April at the time.

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"Your mighty GDI forces have been emasculated, and you yourself are a killer of children. Now of course it's not true. But the world only believes what the media tells them to believe. And I tell the media what to believe, its really quite simple." - Kane (Joe Kucan) Command & Conquer Tiberium Dawn (1995)

Discovery suppose to be launch in fall 2017 on netflix, but you will have to pay to watch each episodes.

The ship would look like the concept for the refit Enterprise for Star Trek 1 the motion picture. So in other word, a kinda "tos" version of the Enterprise D.

Its one series that could be interesting from CBS if there was anyone actually in command. The seem to have sink Anaxar to save a sunken series that would a disaster. For what It seem they will have a Klingon part of the fed.

Star Trek Enterprise was good, sure there was no ship NX class before, but the series was good until the last episode they screw up like they do with Voyager at the end.

Who ever in charge at CBS with the Star Trek stuff should be fired. If you can't keep a canon time line, then stop and go seek 20th century fox to work on Star Wars where you can created "alternated" reality to screw up all that happen and no one will notice it.

"You cannot exaggerate about the Marines. They are convinced to the point of arrogance, that they are the most ferocious fighters on earth - and the amusing thing about it is that they are."- Father Kevin Keaney, Chaplain, Korean War

The NCC 1701 era is overlapping the Discovery. The uniforms and ship styling should be very similar.

TOS was light coloured and up beat overall. The colouring and style of Discovery is the opposite. Sure they are filmed in different times but if you want to reset the style use a different Trek era. The styling would probably more suit the Earth Romulan war era darker and nastier than TOS.

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Do unto others as Frey has done unto you.Seti TeamFree SoftwareI believe truth and principle do matter. If you have to sacrifice them to get the results you want, then the results aren't worth it. FoaS_XC : "Take great pains to distinguish a criticism vs. an attack. A person reading a post should never be able to confuse the two."

There's no way I'm watching it. Kurtzman, the co creator of JJ's trash is one of the producers. Rod the sellout is also involved. And after watching what Fuller did with American Gods (lots of penis), I don't want to see what he would do here.

There's no way I'm watching it. Kurtzman, the co creator of JJ's trash is one of the producers. Rod the sellout is also involved. And after watching what Fuller did with American Gods (lots of penis), I don't want to see what he would do here.

Agreed. I'm annoyed that it seems at least from what I've read and the trailer hints at, that its one huge social warrior, candy coated PC bizarre - with the token low ranking white guy to be gay also. Trek's progressive outlook is why many of us enjoy Trek. It celebrates our differences and shows us that we can be a better society without dwelling on obvious stereotypes. This turd, packages it all in one show and painfully makes it obvious. It's like saying, "I have a friend - who's black", instead of just saying, "I have a friend". It's insulting to the viewer. The trailer already has the creative team dealing with the negative fallout from their teaser release over the look and feel. They are attempting to back peddle and repackage it as taking place in JJ's alternate timeline instead of the Prime timeline - which they should if they want to move forward with the show. Either way, this current incarnation bastardizes the timeline worse than Star Trek: Online and completely ignores the fact that the ship of the line USS Enterprise NCC-1701, is suppose to be the flagship of the Federation and is currently finishing up its first 5 year mission under Captain April with the hand-off to Captain Pike, who will command the next two 5 year missions before Kirk takes command. This is established by Trek-lore and hinted at with how old she is when Admiral Harry Marrow mentions: "Jim, the Enterprise is twenty years old. We feel her day is over." I enjoyed the JJ Alternate timeline Trek as it preserved the continuity and paid respect to the original writers, stories, crew, etc.. He even validated Enterprise as cannon and made sure that his modern adaptation had aspects of the original series ... say, like the uniforms. Even the Kelvin hearkened to the earlier starship designs. With Nero, fans could accept stepping away from TOS. Discovery's writing team and executives seem to have watched the reboots and presumed it was the Prime Universe and continuity fans have come to expect doesn't matter figuring, hey, if people liked this they'll like the same feel for our show. Well, I don't. Scrap it and let the creative team of Trek fans who know the lore and how to write a good story take the lead. If CBS/Paramount weren't so shortsighted they would have bought the rights for Axanar, gave those guys a bigger budget and set them loose to do the backstory series between Enterprise and TOS.

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Don't try to be a great man. Just be a man, and let history make its own judgments.

There's no way I'm watching it. Kurtzman, the co creator of JJ's trash is one of the producers. Rod the sellout is also involved. And after watching what Fuller did with American Gods (lots of penis), I don't want to see what he would do here.

Agreed. I'm annoyed that it seems at least from what I've read and the trailer hints at, that its one huge social warrior, candy coated PC bizarre - with the token low ranking white guy to be gay also. Trek's progressive outlook is why many of us enjoy Trek. It celebrates our differences and shows us that we can be a better society without dwelling on obvious stereotypes. This turd, packages it all in one show and painfully makes it obvious. It's like saying, "I have a friend - who's black", instead of just saying, "I have a friend". It's insulting to the viewer. The trailer already has the creative team dealing with the negative fallout from their teaser release over the look and feel. They are attempting to back peddle and repackage it as taking place in JJ's alternate timeline instead of the Prime timeline - which they should if they want to move forward with the show. Either way, this current incarnation bastardizes the timeline worse than Star Trek: Online and completely ignores the fact that the ship of the line USS Enterprise NCC-1701, is suppose to be the flagship of the Federation and is currently finishing up its first 5 year mission under Captain April with the hand-off to Captain Pike, who will command the next two 5 year missions before Kirk takes command. This is established by Trek-lore and hinted at with how old she is when Admiral Harry Marrow mentions: "Jim, the Enterprise is twenty years old. We feel her day is over." I enjoyed the JJ Alternate timeline Trek as it preserved the continuity and paid respect to the original writers, stories, crew, etc.. He even validated Enterprise as cannon and made sure that his modern adaptation had aspects of the original series ... say, like the uniforms. Even the Kelvin hearkened to the earlier starship designs. With Nero, fans could accept stepping away from TOS. Discovery's writing team and executives seem to have watched the reboots and presumed it was the Prime Universe and continuity fans have come to expect doesn't matter figuring, hey, if people liked this they'll like the same feel for our show. Well, I don't. Scrap it and let the creative team of Trek fans who know the lore and how to write a good story take the lead. If CBS/Paramount weren't so shortsighted they would have bought the rights for Axanar, gave those guys a bigger budget and set them loose to do the backstory series between Enterprise and TOS.

Could not have said it better myself!

Stephen

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"You cannot exaggerate about the Marines. They are convinced to the point of arrogance, that they are the most ferocious fighters on earth - and the amusing thing about it is that they are."- Father Kevin Keaney, Chaplain, Korean War

CBS/Paramount don't seem to understand the timeline and invent a new one.

Sadly they can do what ever they want with it. I will not watch that garbage the created, even for free. I grow tired or them when they don't consider what the fans want and prevent anyone from making anything base on Star Trek.

CBS/Paramount don't seem to understand the timeline and invent a new one.

Sadly they can do what ever they want with it. I will not watch that garbage the created, even for free. I grow tired or them when they don't consider what the fans want and prevent anyone from making anything base on Star Trek.

Sadly, a new timeline isn't the problem. It's just basic quality. JJ Abrams promised us a "reboot" and he delivered a couple of feature length self-parodies. I'm still waiting for the studio execs to get their heads out of their butts, and give some real sci-fi writers charabanc to do whatever they want with the franchise. The fact that they are trying to create a series that doesn't interfere with some other production shows that they are retaining everything that JJ Abrams made fun of. I'm still waiting on the "reboot" I was promised when I bought the ticket to the first JJ Abrams film. As far as I'm concerned, the owners of the ST franchise still owe me $7.50, from 2009!

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Cannon (can' nun) n. An istrument used to rectify national boundries. Ambrois Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

"You cannot exaggerate about the Marines. They are convinced to the point of arrogance, that they are the most ferocious fighters on earth - and the amusing thing about it is that they are."- Father Kevin Keaney, Chaplain, Korean War

I've been worried about this since Bryan Fuller said there's no envelope to be pushing. Now he's moved on, but still.

I think the problem in general is the population they are targeting. The people who care what the Kardashians (with a K, not the C) are doing. High thinking programs are not en vogue any more. People just want to be entertained and really don't care about the content. And its a trend amongst the population as a whole, either I'm getting more jaded as I get older, or the general populace is getting dumber. We've become so reliant on technology that thinking just doesn't seem popular. I'm watching Seniors graduate high school barely able to do simple arithmetic, I'm watching college students who have no problem solving or critical thinking skills. I literally had someone about 20 tell me that something was ruined because it was upside down. The look on his face when I flipped it over and said, it's fine, would have been hilarious if it wasn't so sad. And this is the population that the executives are targeting. These people are interested in personal drama, and lots of sex. Not science. And not science fiction.

All that being said, I'll watch the series premiere and hope I'm wrong, but the Premiere needs to be excellent to get me to pay yet another $10 a month for CBS All Access.

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"Your mighty GDI forces have been emasculated, and you yourself are a killer of children. Now of course it's not true. But the world only believes what the media tells them to believe. And I tell the media what to believe, its really quite simple." - Kane (Joe Kucan) Command & Conquer Tiberium Dawn (1995)

In answer to Lieutenant Q, there have always been over-stressed and apparently stupid kids. The problem is that the studio executives do not want an intelligent audience. They only want reach the idiots that will buy whatever the advertisers dangle in front of their eyes. What really makes this sad is that they already know they can't sell advertising with the show any more. The people encouraging the public to be stupid aren't all that bright themselves.

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Cannon (can' nun) n. An istrument used to rectify national boundries. Ambrois Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

In answer to Lieutenant Q, there have always been over-stressed and apparently stupid kids. The problem is that the studio executives do not want an intelligent audience. They only want reach the idiots that will buy whatever the advertisers dangle in front of their eyes. What really makes this sad is that they already know they can't sell advertising with the show any more. The people encouraging the public to be stupid aren't all that bright themselves.

They want the easy buck right now forgetting that what made TOS work was intelligent writing and that is why it still mostly holds up fifty some years on.

Please excuse this mini-necro resurrection, but I think the context is valuable.

Prior to viewing the first season of Discovery I would have agreed with SO much of what has been written in the thread previously. I still do agree with much of it, e.g. the shame of cancelling the Axanar project, eschewing Kurtzman or anyone connected to JJ Abrams the Master Derivativist, the lame and/or aimless course of post-Enterprise, Season 2* Star Trek productions. However, in regards to what I expected to be a disappointment in Discovery series, turned out to be the exact opposite. That is, the best single season of science-fiction show I've ever seen (except for the last 30 minutes of the last episode).

Yes, I was very impressed with the first season of Discovery. It even passed my "Branding Test", i.e. the question would I like the show if it was not a 'Star Trek' property. The answer for me was a resounding yes. The production values, the casting, acting performances, gutsy plot choices, and changing my prior strongly held preconceptions were all well accomplished for me. To save it from the unfair legacy of being a Star Trek savior for most of the starved fandom, I wish it wasn't a Trek show. The show took a chance to stretch and it delivered very well along new angles that still honored Star Trek traditions.

At the risk of spoiling for those who have not seen the full season, there are aspects of the show that I definitely did not like. I think the show could have done without having the lead character, Michael Burnham, be a family member of Sarek and Spock. Again, this is part of the unfair legacy that comes along with trying to satisfy too many parts of a legendary fanbase. Perhaps the most popular TV/movie fanbase of all time. Money is the main motivator here and while it is crucial for modern super-competitive media the financial anxiety can still be overdone. That said, for what it was, the Burnham-"House of Sarek" connection wasn't bad. And at times it was interesting.

The other major flaw for me was the complete caving in to negative criticism that came in the last 30 minutes of the season finale 'Will You Take My Hand'. In particular I speak of Emperor Phillipa Georgiou's complete break with previously established character. The character even shrugged physically on screen as if to convey the shrug that the producers gave in saying "Aw, f--k it! We made something different and good, but we still got panned." A few minutes later in that same episode, we are shown the arrival of the USS Enterprise under Capt Pike, as if to say, "Hey, is this better?! This is what you wanted, right?! Well, here, have it." Ugh!

The first offering of Discovery has more accolades than I have time to give in this one post. Maybe I'll review that later. However, I think the hard turn that the show took in those final 30 minutes indicates a turn to something that I'm dreading, that is a series with a prodcution team walking on eggshells with each decision. A series that will struggle to take risks. I hope I am as wrong as I was proven to be in the first 14 hours, 30 minutes of the series that wowed me. Maybe the news of an expanding Star Trek universe coming soon means that there will be at least one show that will be allowed to separate itself from the harmful inertia. And these reviews are coming from a fan whose first exposure to Star Trek was its first reruns of the original series in the 1970s. I only state that because it shows that it's possible to greatly love the tradition without being a slave to it. The first season of Star Trek Discovery was 97% (14.5 out of 15 episodes) a very good show, and at the worst, good sci-fi adventure.

From the clips of STD I've seen on YouTube, the show is the sum of all my nightmares. There was an extended clip of the Discovery going to battle with a "Klingon" ship that very literally, looked like excrement. The Discovery spun and disappeared, popping up somewhere else, like something out of a silly video game. I really can't see how anyone can what it.

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Cannon (can' nun) n. An istrument used to rectify national boundries. Ambrois Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

From the clips of STD I've seen on YouTube, the show is the sum of all my nightmares....

Haha! 'The Agonizer' in the form of Trek TV, eh? All I can say is to give it 2 hours of your time. Watch the first 2 episodes. If it doesn't interest you, then I sincerely apologize for the recommendation. Jason Isaacs continues his run of never having a bad performance for me. The rest of the cast were at least very good. The spinning ship special effect belies the interesting and compelling theory behind it in the story. Two hours worth. Don't judge only by the clips. Check it out.

All I can say is to give it 2 hours of your time. Watch the first 2 episodes.

Hell will freeze over, before I subscribe to CBS's online streaming service, unless they come out with something that, at least, has compelling graphics. STD looks like a crumby video game. I grew tired of the cyan filter, back when Sergourney Weaver was beating the crap out of aliens.

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Cannon (can' nun) n. An istrument used to rectify national boundries. Ambrois Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary